Moisture determination of the main insulation in a transformer by frequency‐domain spectroscopy

The presence of moisture in the oil–paper insulation in a transformer drastically accelerates the aging process of the insulation and reduces the service life of the transformer. To analyse the influence of moisture on the dielectric response of the oil–paper insulation and to precisely determine the moisture content of the transformer by frequency-domain spectroscopy, the modified Cole–Cole model is introduced to fit the frequency versus dielectric responses of the oil–paper insulation samples with different moisture contents, and the influence of the variation in moisture content on the parameters in the modified Cole–Cole model is investigated. Results show that the modified Cole–Cole model parameters, including the α and β relaxation components as well as the DC and hopping conductivity components, can be used to effectively fit the frequency versus dielectric response curve of the oil–paper insulation. The characteristic parameters τα and τβ in this model are found to be sensitive to changes in the moisture content. They can be used to quantitatively evaluate the moisture content in a transformer insulation system. A case study is presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed technique in assessing the moisture content of onsite transformers. © 2017 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.